OpenAI COO says GPT-5 is 5x more accurate, but only some users will see big changes

India Today

3 days ago

OpenAI recently unveiled GPT-5, describing it as its most capable AI model yet. In an interview with Big Technology, OpenAI's COO Brad Lightcap has now claimed that this version is four to five times more accurate than its earlier versions. He says the upgrade will be more noticeable for some users than others, largely because of how the model now works behind the scenes.advertisement"We think now with GPT-5 and obviously with future models, we have seen consistently the rates of accuracy and the rates of hallucination go up and down respectively. GPT-5 depends on how you measure it, but it's four to five times more accurate than its predecessors," he said.Lightcap explained that GPT-5 changes the way people interact with ChatGPT. In earlier versions, users had to manually select between different models - some are better for quick replies and some are designed for deeper reasoning. This model switching often confused people. GPT-5 removes that choice altogether by letting the AI itself decide how much time and computational effort to spend on a question. In practice, this means the model might take extra time to "think" through a complex query, while keeping simpler answers fast.
Lightcap described this as more than a convenience upgrade. By dynamically adjusting its reasoning process, GPT-5 can deliver better responses across different types of questions, whether it is writing, coding, or tackling a health-related topic. The model's improvements are not limited to speed and reasoning. He asserted that the model has also been trained with a particular emphasis on medical reasoning and health-related queries. It is being said that this is in response to a growing number of people using AI tools to understand health conditions or manage ongoing treatments.The company is clear, however, that GPT-5 is not meant to replace doctors. Instead, it is designed to give people more awareness and context, such as explaining a medical condition, its common symptoms, and possible care options. According to Lightcap, many people struggle with understanding their own diagnoses because the healthcare system often leaves little time for detailed explanations. OpenAI hopes GPT-5 can fill some of that gap while maintaining high factual accuracy.On that point, the company says GPT-5's answers are far less likely to contain factual errors compared to previous versions. Measured against GPT-4o, responses are about 45 per cent less likely to be incorrect, and when the model engages in extended reasoning, the accuracy improvement rises to around 80 per cent.advertisementFor casual ChatGPT users, especially those on the free tier, the jump to GPT-5 could feel substantial. Many of them have only experienced the more basic GPT-4.0, which works like a fast, search-style assistant. With GPT-5, these users will see, for the first time, a model that can decide when to take extra time to deliver a more thoughtful answer. For long-time Plus subscribers and advanced users, who have already had access to reasoning models like GPT-4.1 and OpenAI's 'o-series,' the improvement will still be noticeable, though perhaps less dramatic.Despite its advances, GPT-5 is not being called artificial general intelligence (AGI). Lightcap said the technology shows early signs of AGI-like abilities, such as multi-step reasoning and better tool usage, but is still part of a gradual evolution rather than a clear-cut breakthrough. - Ends